Catalogue description Journals of Edwin and Ormond Hill

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Details of IR 42
Reference: IR 42
Title: Journals of Edwin and Ormond Hill
Description:

Journals or drafting books, of Edwin, brother of Sir Rowland Hill, and of his son Ormond, who were responsible for the early production and development of postage stamps by the Stamping Department of the Board of Stamps and Taxes, and after 1849, of the Board of Inland Revenue.

Date: 1841-1897
Separated material:

Books J1, 01, and 02 have not survived.

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Edwin Hill, 1793-1876

Ormond Hill, 1872-

Physical description: 17 volume(s)
Administrative / biographical background:

The first adhesive postage stamp, the famous 'Penny Black', was introduced in 1840 at the suggestion of Rowland Hill. The responsibility for the production of this and subsequent issues of postage stamps was entrusted to the Board of Stamps and Taxes. After the amalgamation between this Board and the Board of Excise in 1849 to form the Board of Inland Revenue, the latter continued to be responsible for more than seventy years for manufacturing or supervising the manufacture of postage stamps and other postal material. It was from Somerset House that the sheets of the 1840 issue were distributed all over the country.

Rowland Hill is generally remembered as the pioneer of postage stamps, but his brother Edwin who was engaged to take charge of the Stamping Department had much to do with their early production and subsequent development. He retired in 1872 when his deputy and son, Ormond, succeeded him.

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